There are books on Haig, on British military leadership in 1916 and on unit individual personal experiences in that year but there is a dearth of books on the battle of the Somme which sets out to examine the concept and planning of the battle and its conduct over the whole four and a half months, let alone one which has hitherto unpublished material to show what it was like to serve in the battle at every stage. This book does not concentrate exclusively on the front line infantryman but also the gunner, sapper, medical man, airman and even the nurse on the Somme too. The introduction explains the phenomenon of the Somme being scorched into the National heritage but with a distortion produced by the literary legacy, a distortion that the author claims is as regrettable as it is explicable. In a substantial, powerfully argued case, the author takes issue with the judgement of other historians in particular with Tim Travers ("The Killing Ground") and Denis Winter ("Haig's Command") and with the commonly held verdict on the battle and then, in an entirely appropriate conclusion, he explains the remarkable holding up of the morale of the British Expeditionary Force over so long and demanding an experience.